The Sapphire of Morocco, Chefchaouen

First it’s pronounced Chef- shouw-en & is known as the Blue City of Morocco…..but most of the time you just see the photos of the one blue alleyway that has flowers, and a girl sitting on it in a pretty dress posing like the 50 other girls in line to do the same thing. But there is so much more to this city that a pretty photo opportunity!

Chefchauen is close to Tangier and was founded in 1471! Crazy right?!? It was a fortress used to fight the Portuguese invasions of Northern Morocco. Along with the Ghomara tribes of this region, many Jews actually ended up settling here. The Jewish people were fleeing the Spanish Reconquista during Medieval Times; the Jewish people who settled here began painting the houses blue here to match the sky to serve as a reminder to lead a spiritual life (this was after they settled here from escaping the atrocities of Hitler during World War II).

The city is not only unique in its blue buildings, but also in the hand crafter articles available in this region such as traditional hand woven Berber rugs where you can literally watch them weave it in front of you. These Berber rugs and their patterns are handed down from one generation to the next, the mothers teach their children & the men typically become master weavers and open their own shop. I bought one such rug, that in the United States would typically cost $3500 (easily) and it only cost me $200 & is full of color and life with blues, purples and yellows dancing in geometric patterns across it.

The master weaver I bought the rug from was extremely generous, in that when I bought this rug he also gave me a smaller rug as a thank you gift! Something to know about me is that accepting gifts is extremely difficult for me, it literally makes me feel like I have birds and worms crawling in my stomach & am unable to make eye contact with the person giving the gift. So for this man, who reported to me that he spent 3 months making this rug I had bought, was selling it for $200 USD, I really felt I was almost stealing it from him. My guide and I talked with him for some time, and he was so excited at how happy I was about the rug for my new townhome. I thanked him multiple times, and then he said this, “The most important thing to me, is that you leave my shop happy”. Well naturally my eyes became all misty, and didn’t know what to say. One thing I know you can count on in Morocco, is that when someone says something like this to you, they actually mean it. The craftsman ship of their products here are amazing & the shop owners here in Chefchaouen are the kindest & most genuine people you will meet.

This is one thing about having anxiety, or PTSD. When you endure trauma, it is very hard to trust strangers again. I use to be able to trust strangers unequivocally, I would pick up hitch-hikers, just to have someone to talk to in the car on a long drive. But after my trauma, it was hard for me to go outside without feeling I was exposed or vulnerable to any person I passed. This place, Chefchaouen, it helped me see that there were still good people & genuinely good people in this world. To have a stranger care about my happiness like that, it helped some part of me that I felt was too broken to heal start to heal. By the time I left this city, I felt happy, happier than I have felt in a long time. There is something about the mountains, the blue buildings, the calm nature of the city (which may be from the Hashish, but I love the vibe), the food and especially the WONDERFUL PEOPLE, that helped me put some of the pieces inside me back together.

The market in the center of the city is the best place to spend your evening, it has a lot of cafe’s restaurants and souvenirs. When you pick a café, make sure that there are plenty of locals filling it up, that means that the prices are reasonable and the food is excellent. Don’t expect service to be quick here, its typically & painfully slow. This is important when you are hungry and feel like your stomach is going to start chewing its way out at any minute and the whole table gets hangry. If this is the case, there are sandwich shops scattered throughout the city that are delicious, and also a freshly made yogurt shop that is to die for! The guy literally makes the yogurt right in front of you, and it looks like this big bowl of white goop, but oh man, it is so delicious. A bowl of white heavenly yogurt that fills you up and calms the stomach. The shop is naturally very crowded, so you have to kind of gently push your way to the front and get his attention to order a bowl of this heavenly delight. You can find this shop on the street from the town center that leads up the steep alleyway into the medina near the mosque (see alleyway in above photo). You won’t regret it, believe me.

While we are on the topic of consumption, let me offer you a piece of safety advice when visiting this place. Marijuana is cultivated and grown here all over the hills, so if someone offers you hashish, I would suggest not trying it unless you are adventurous. But let me give you fair warning, as many drugs as Snoop Dog has done, when he came to Morocco and tried it, he reportedly said, “D@^#, that’s strong stuff”…..so consider yourself warned 😉

We only had one day in this city because of time constraints with other locations I wanted to visit, like the nearby Akchour, which I will address in another post. So I feel the time I had there was far too short to really drink the city in. So I will be going back to Chefchaouen, and when I do, I will not only hike in Akchour but visit this amazing cave I was reading about online.

It is one of the deepest caves in Morocco right near Chefchaouen called Kef Toghobeit, which I really want to visit this next year when I return to this beautiful city. It is actually not only the deepest cave in Morocco, but also the deepest cave in AFRICA measuring 12,854 feet in length and 2,369 feet in depth! I love spelunking, it makes me feel like a real explorer, just have to remember to bring either a guide or some really long string if I decide to explore this one.

Remember how I mentioned Akchour, well this is a tiny little Berber village that has a 1.5 hour moderate hike to some gorgeous waterfalls & you are rewarded with fresh mint tea and tagines at the end. It is a right of passage to swim in the water, and it’s waters are frigid and invigorating! Stay tuned for more on my hilarious adventure hiking to these water falls.

I can’t say enough about this city, in the short time I had there, it was nothing short of magical. So now I’m thinking of retiring there at some point, Inshallah…..